You sure the knot didn't come loose? Often time ill use superglue on my braid knots because they are bad about coming loose.
I'm 100% sure it didn't. Fish went on a run and broke about 2 mins into the fight....I lost about half my spool LOL. It was a stud fish. Honestly I can't say if it was a striper or a paddle fish or a monster Gar. It was exciting regardless.
And yes they can be caught from the shore. There were a ton of peeps catching them. Just watch for the snakes, saw peeps catching snakes too LOL